Pale Tears
by ShadowSong StarGlaive The Wolf
Summary: [PG for death][One-shot] Through the goddess Artimes's eyes, how the fawn got it's spots... through tears.


A/N Hello there! I know I have never written Greek Mythology fic, but there's always a first time. Actually, I had written one before, but it was completely not logical and all that. It was about a new goddess being introduced into the gods world, and four goddesses, Leto, Artimes, Athena and Phoebes (my favorite goddesses) 'adopted' it. But I'll never post it anyway...

But this one came up when I was writing that, so here you go! It's a bit like teenagers Greek Mythology, but then again, I'm not Homer, I don't write like that.

I made up a few god(desses), but then again, they have so many, it's fun to make them up.

Review please! It's a bit shorter then most mine, but then again, I usually don't do these...

Disclaimer: When the Greeks are done cleaning up from the Olympics, I suppose they will come over and kill me. Until then.... :) Who knows?

(Begin Pale Tears)

My keen eyes scanned over the thick forest. Foliage spread over the island I was hunting on, covering the ground in mast and growing from trees. Though it made hunting slightly harder, the target could not see me as easily.

The target, a wild boar, snuffled through the collection of mast that encased a rather large amount of nuts. Pawing with a hoof at them, it grunted, as boards are apt to do. Long tusks sprouted out of it's snout, and bristles layered the ugly beast. Why Gaia made such a creature, I do not know.

I was hunting, not just because I was the goddess of hunt, but because two minor gods were getting married- Striaia, the goddess of playing ice, like snowflakes when they are forming, and Glacias, god of snow. There was to be a massive banquet, and I, of course, volunteered to hunt for the gods and goddesses.

I stretched my bow tightly, straining the bowstring and making the arrow nearly fall off of the notch.

/_ Artimes, _ I murmured to myself, _ Fire.... _

I loosed the arrow, and the shaft sped through the forest, it's flights in silent guiding, the point swift and deadly.

** Thunk! **

My shaft had pierced the thick skin of the boar- and yet, had not killed it. I prepared my bow again, drawing an arrow from my never-empty quiver, and hooked it on, acute senses screaming at me to shoot- before the boar rammed me.

I loosed again, and the boar squealed in pain. I raced over to the writing beast, and swiftly killed it with my knife so it would not suffer. Yes, I hunted- why would the goddess of the ** hunt ** not hunt? 'Tis a silly thing to ask. But I did not like suffering.

Picking up the boar carcass, I loaded it onto my chariot and sped to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods.

(At Mount Olympus)

I deposited the corpse onto the table where food to be cooked lie. Freshly slain chickens, rabbits, even another boar lie there. I suddenly realized- there was no venison, deer. How could I have forgotten?

"Artimes!" I heard the call from Athena, goddess of crafts, strategic warfare, and wisdom. Her plumed helmet and armor were stripped off, and she almost lazily hefted a lance, just for protection. She wore a pale thigh-length tunic, like the humans below do. "How goes the hunting?" Her eyes were intelligent and thoughtful, not really focused on me but on other things.

I shrugged, a gesture I had picked up from the humans in the world below our mountain. "Well, though I did not fetch venison." I grinned, showing my white teeth. "My dogs are sleeping off all the food I gave them earlier- I wanted to hunt alone today."

Athena smiled and nodded. "Well, good luck." She turned and went to do whatever she usually does, settle arguments or speak to Zeus about some law or other.

I laughed quietly to myself. Why wish the goddess of the hunt luck hunting?

(Back in the Forest)

Once again, I sighted down my shaft, the flights circled around the heart of the animal I was hunting. This time it was a deer, eating slowly on a patch of fresh, green grass.

Something nagged at me, as if pulling on my brain. I pushed it away, and focused on my target.

The deer kicked at the grass with a lone hoof, then began to eat again after pushing up hiding grass.

i Now! /i I snapped to myself. i Ignore that feeling... /i

I loosed, yet again, my shaft. It leapt forward, spinning towards the target. Suddenly, I heard three things at once:

The b thunk /b of my arrow as it pierced the skin of the deer.

The cry of the deer as it fell.

The bawl of a creature nearby, another deer.

I ran towards the deer. Bending down, I pulled my shaft from it, wondering- what was the other cry as the first deer fell?

My perceptive eyes noticed hoof prints leading towards a clump of trees. Leaving the slain deer, I followed the cries.

Near a patch of sycamores, I bent down, smelling the ground for scents. I sniffed, and got a whiff of a fawn. I jerked up and followed the scent like my hounds on the scent.

I arrived at the middle of the sycamores, and there lie the baby deer. I wished I could weep, but you know the rule- goddesses cannot weep.

I heard footsteps crash in the ground next to me, and I swiftly disappeared into a tree.

A human girl, of about ten, was running in the forest. She was crying, and I felt a need to comfort her. I leapt from the tree, and the girl stared. Why not? Few mortals have seen gods and goddesses, but she... called to me.

"Listen," I said, softening my voice. She dumbly nodded, her flow of tears stopped. "I... cannot tear, weep. Can you please..." my voice cracked. "Do it for me?" Yes, goddesses are vain, but I am only slightly. "Over that deer...."

The girl smiled weakly. "Actually, goddess..." Her surprise had changed, and now she had a new one- the goddess asked her a favor. "My dog had just died. I was crying over him... can you please do something?" She wiped a tear drop from her face, and it flicked onto the deer.

A sudden inspiration caught me. "Cry over the deer, and your dog. I will make your tear spots permanent."

Her eyes, shiny from recent crying, and slightly crimson, widened. "Really?" she breathed.

I nodded. "Yes..." I went over to the deer, who seemed not to have noticed us, and I held it still. The girl came over, then hesitated. Finally, she tightly shut her eyes, and tear drops fell, making wide pale splotches on the fawn. I left, and picked up the mother deer carcass and buried it.

Later, I came back to see the girl sadly petting her deceased canine. As a ghost, silently, I gave the dog patches of white on it's damp parts of fur. Thus, the dog, today known as the beagle, had spots, like the deer.

I considered putting spots on the older deer also, but the young need it best. As grief can fade away, so do the spots.

(End Pale Tears)

A/N Wow. That took... about an hour. I'm getting faster!

I know some things need to be different, and I made Artimes too 'human' but I tried. This was made in an hour, you know. Please review, and constructive criticism is liked!


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